How to choose speakers for a car

New speakers for a car can greatly improve the sound of music compared to the standard speakers that were installed in the car from the factory. Thus, if you have a good car radio, you can raise the sound in your car to a whole new level with your own hands. In this article we will consider only cases when the car uses speakers of standard sizes and all the necessary wires have already been routed into place.

There are also cars with non-standard mounting locations for speakers or with unusual speaker mounting; in such cases, you will have to purchase more specialized acoustic systems, or even better, contact specialists.

What types of car speakers are there?

Speakers for cars are usually made in the so-called coaxial design - when one or more smaller speakers are fixed in the center of a large low-frequency speaker - for mid and high frequencies. Separate systems are also available, in which the low-frequency and high-frequency speakers are made separately.

REGULAR, ROUND CAR SPEAKERS ARE MADE IN THE FOLLOWING STANDARD SIZES:

• 10 cm is the smallest of the standard speaker sizes, often installed in the rear doors of cars as says in ONKYO manual;
• 13 cm is the average of the typical speaker sizes;
• 17 cm is the largest of the standard speaker sizes, often installed in the front doors of cars;
• 20 and 25 cm - rare, especially powerful oversized speakers, usually require large holes to be cut and the installation process must be treated with care.

OVAL SPEAKERS:

• 6x9 inches - the standard size of an oval car speaker, as a rule, powerful, high-quality speakers installed in the rear panel of the car;
• 6x8 and 4x6 inches are rare oval speaker standards that are produced by major manufacturers.

 

How to Choose the Right Speakers

First of all, find out what format of speakers are already installed in your car. If these are standard sizes, then you are lucky, and replacement does not foretell any special problems. If you think that you can expand the installation spaces for speakers, then select the options that are largest in size and power as says in Polycom manual - the sound system in a car must have a power reserve in order to delight listeners with good sound when driving at any speed and on any road.

Then you have to decide on the quality level of the selected speakers. We recommend purchasing at least two-way speakers; they will provide fairly good reproduction of all musical sounds. If you choose the cheapest options, be sure to pay attention to the products of the most well-known companies - they will please you with the price-quality ratio. In the field of car audio, there is no situation where lesser-known companies produce high-quality equipment and sell it at reduced prices: everything is different here.

In the mid- and high-end segment, it makes sense to turn to reviews in online publications and user reviews to choose acoustics that suit your musical tastes.

The highest sound quality is provided by component systems: speakers in which low-frequency and high-frequency speakers are mounted separately.

As a rule, such systems are not cheap and require certain qualifications during installation, but the efforts invested will definitely pay off and will delight you!

Buy the highest quality speakers in the sizes that suit you and install them in accordance with the instructions in the speaker instructions. As a rule, well-known manufacturers complete their products with everything necessary for this.

Subwoofers

 

A subwoofer in a car is an important element of the audio system - it helps to get powerful bass and enrich the sound.

There are subwoofers designed for installation in open space - both regular speakers and models that must be placed in a closed enclosure of a certain volume. If you do not have a special place to install a subwoofer in one of the car panels, purchase a model already assembled in a housing.

There are also options that are placed free-standing in the trunk as says in Linear manual, and options with a particularly compact design that can be placed under the seats, thus obtaining an extremely high-quality, but almost invisible design.